Valentine and I am very bothered are both on the subject of love. Both use a lot of effective imagery to focus attention on the main topic.

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Introduction

Valentine and I am very bothered are both on the subject of love. Both use a lot of effective imagery to focus attention on the main topic. 'in the naked lilac flame' is a description used by Simon Armitage which both effectively describes the flame of the Bunsen burner and leads onto deeper meanings within the poem. The use of the word 'naked' gives a sense of the exposure and the vulnerability felt by the poet as he describes his emotions and his feelings towards the girl in the poem. He observes the flame as being lilac; this is a symbolist reference to her, as lilac is considered a beautiful colour. The flame is described as being a lilac colour; lilac flames are intense, high temperature, clean flames, thus a reflection of the poets feeling towards the girl. ...read more.

Middle

While Simon Armitage uses sibilance to give an influence of the sinister to his poems Duffy prefers to introduce a sense of paradox as well as using both tactile and smelling imagery. She does this by using a paradox in "Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring, if you like. Lethal.". By describing a wedding normally considered a happy occasion to something that could be lethal she both intrigues the reader as to the symbolic meaning of her words as well as continuing the sense of the sinister by then describing the scent of the happy occasion as something that would "cling to your fingers, cling to your knife." These two lines have a strong sense of aromatic imagery in them. When Caroline Duffy says, "its scent will cling to your fingers" the type of aromatic imagery employed suggests that the after effects of a "lethal" wedding are so dramatic that they leave an aroma that continues to linger. ...read more.

Conclusion

Also the bulb of an onion is comparable to the moon and that too suggests that the onion is symbolic of her being wrapped up and not appreciated.Duffy also uses a smile in the line "like the careful undressing of love" which compares the many layers of an onion to the many "layers" of a person, the outer layer being the person we want to be perceived as. It is a continuance on the subject of comparing a person to a moon wrapped in brown paper. The careful undressing suggests that we need to carefully undress these layers, removing any perceived notions to get to the real person underneath. Compare the use of imagery in "Valentine" by Carol Ann Duffy to "I am very bothered" by Simon Armitage Shubhangi Kitchloo 11G ...read more.

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